Are Directors Today USING the Horror Genre...

[lazario]

to get into the mainstream??

We now have at least 3 examples of directors who seem to have started in the horror genre, but only to get them other movies.

James Wan - Saw to Death Sentence
Zack Synder - Dawn of the Dead to 300
Jonathan Levine - All the Boys Love Mandy Lane to The Wackness
Lucky McKee - May to Red


Huh... it seems like all these kids who are dominating today's horror... seem to just move on to doing more Mainstream movie genres. What do you guys think is going on with this? It's really weird.

[tsmooth31]

i dont really see it as that, i mean we all like different genres of movies right?, i watch diff genres so why cant some1 direct diff genres

but you also might have a point, reason being i think horror movies are the easiest type of movie to make, its the only type of movie you can get away with doing half assed, you dont need good acting or good directing, hell throw in buckets of blood and some brutal violence and you will get a cult following

so i guess it can be looked at a few different ways

[lazario]

There are probably other directors doing this too. I didn't even bother to look at their filmographies. These are just a few I've remembered.

What I think is that most of these directors just "like" the horror genre. And most likely, studios are hiring them to direct horror films, not simply acquiring their films. The one I've always had a huge problem with was Zack Snyder who directed Dawn of the Dead. Because it was a studio film. Universal clearly funded it and made almost all the money off it. So, why not hire a guy fresh out of film school or whatever, someone sort of like Mtv-approved.

I'm also thinking this trend of directors moving from the horror genre to other genres means that they were just taking chances with their horror films. That they didn't really have a vision for the films they made. And I think all the greatest horror directors have this.

Now that would I think let Lucky McKee almost completely off the hook. Because he was screwed by studios twice.

[tsmooth31]

well like i said i have no prob with directors expanding to other genres

i have this movie monster man, its a gory fun horror movie, i remember i looked up the director one time and he had a weird resume

1994 "beanstalk" - which was a family movie about jack and the beanstalk

1997- Eight Days A Week" some chick flick comedy

2000- "100 Girls" a romance comedy

2003- "Monster Man" gory cheest horror flick

2007 "Shoot Em Up" - action movie which was in theaters

i found that to be pretty weird, 5 movies, all a few years apaert and all of diff genres

[lazario]

Yeah, that's one way to look at it. But, understanding it as a trend might really explain why American horror is turning out such shit right now. We already know most of the directors aren't that talented. We know the studios don't care about the genre.

[tsmooth31]

which is why im so into low budget movies, they might not have all the talent and resources to make a great or perfect movie, but atleast they care about what they are doing and love the horror genre

[lazario]

I think low budget, at least what I've been exposed to of it, has really changed. Hell, I was over at Bloody Disgusting and someone on the message board had made a horror movie. Or had shot half of it and was advertising it to get financing for the other half, whatever.

What I saw was SO bad... I can't even begin to describe it. But I'll try anyway.

The guy who made it kept comparing it to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. So I guess that got my attention. I'm not the hugest fan of Henry, but the movie had brains. Brains, real character development, quality acting (in a low budget film). So, I just sat back and watched and I don't know how I got through just 8 MINUTES of scenes he had put together.

The acting and writing were so bad, they ALMOST made Saw look like genius. Saw definitely trumped this piece of shit in the acting department. But this guy had the audacity to compare it to Henry, when the killer's performance in his little movie was more like Silent Night Deadly Night 2. And if you haven't seen that one or don't remember it, here's a refresher:



And THIS GUY is better (SNDN2, that guy). He's doing voice over narrations like this is a TV show. There's a scene where he kills some kind of lawyer after the lawyer yells on his cellphone for 3 straight minutes (another actor so bad, I was SO CLOSE to clicking out of this guy's video), and then we see a scene of him raping and killing a woman. That's it.

All of it had already been done before, all of it was bad, all of it was pretentious... God, whatever substance that was in the movies he was influenced by was gone and he just had people yelling and maybe one death scene (not that the number matters) and a rape. You don't make a horror movie by showing things happening. There has to be a real story or some intelligence to it. This was the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen and that's REALLY saying something after Saw.


As for the studios and all that. They're just making their own low budget films. The difference in the budgets is barely anything really. A studio making something like that new My Bloody Valentine just spends a little more extra money on the 3-D and the camera equipment. They still spend almost nothing on sets and makeup effects.

It all feels the same to me.

[tsmooth31]

well yea obviously some low budget movies are gonna be nothing more then crap, thats why i said you should pick up one of those 50 movie packs sometime,its a good time waster, plus you get such a variety you are guaranteed to find some movies you like, you just have to be able to overlook things and rememeber you cant judge them on the same scale you would judge a multi million dollar budget movie

[lazario]

I judge all movies the same way - intelligence is key. Obviously, some low budget filmmakers used to be a lot smarter than most of the directors making Hollywood movies. Oh SURE, they knew bigger actors (the Hollywood directors), so they knew all about the pretentious methods and all that. But as history has proved, most of those directors don't come to direct for the horror genre very often.

My point, I think is, the directors of all movies today (all budgets) are sharing the same brain. I don't care if they can't afford everything they need - but they're also forgetting how important intelligence is. And if they show it, it's always shown in some little hand gesture a character makes. What about a smart movie altogether?

Every time I hear "50 Movie Pack" - I still think old movies. Where do you find a 50 Movie Pack with newer movies?

[tsmooth31]

decrepit crypt of nightmares- thats one to check out, i have it and it has a whole mix of movies, cheesy, bad, good, funny, dumb, smart, it pretty much has it all, most are from 2000 and after, it does have a few from the 80's and 90's tho

also catacomb of creepshows is another, i dont have this one yet but from looking at the movies it seems to be alomost the same

most are from 2000 and beyond and are from brain damage films

and for about 15$ its well worth it, whether you find the movies good or bad or whatever you will atleast be entertained for along time

[lazario]

The quality of the films is better than this right? :





Amazon.com's link to your boxset, just so I don't forget:

www.amazon.com/Decrepit-Crypt-Nightmares-Movie-Pack/dp/B000QQDKYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1232620890&sr=1-1

[tsmooth31]

better then what, did you forget a link or something cuz i just see a blank space

[lazario]

Are you kidding? There's a YouTube video loaded right on the page. I see it right now.

I'll just link you to the YouTube video on YT's site:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDDIABn-Dhk

Check that out and tell me if the quality of the movies on that boxset is the same as it.

That's Sub Rosa Studios' stuff, which I can't stand. Not because I think they're poorly written. But because it doesn't look or feel like a movie at all. And the people in the movie aren't actors, their all friends of the guy directing. And you want to hear the worst part? The director actually is a big name in the horror genre. Scooter McCrae not only does a ton of work for DVD special editions of movies for Synapse, Something Weird, Subversive Cinema, and other companies - but he worked on the production of several of Frank Henenlotter's movies - the Basket Case sequels, Frankenhooker, and probably his new one (Bad Biology).

[tsmooth31]

hmmm weird, i swear that video was not there before, to answer your question there are some movies of that quality yes, but there are some of better quality and made better too, i mean you are getting 50 movies for under 20$ so some are gonna be complete crap where a guy gets his friends and fam together and makes a movie, although i have seen some good movies like that, there is one movie i forget the name but the same guy directs it, stars in it, films it and does about everything else in it and it was pretty damn good, especially considering all of that, i think the other one that i named catacomb of creepshows has more of the "better" made movies but im not sure, really need to pick it up soon

[lazario]

Jan 25, 2009 6:46:26 GMT -5 tsmooth31 said:

hmmm weird, i swear that video was not there before

You know, maybe the site was just being fucked up. It's like that sometimes and or it won't load correctly. Happens every now and then.


As for these sets, sounds like I now know all I need to know.